Court turns down motion on mitigating Oleg Navalny’s prison sentence

VORONEZH. June 14 (Interfax) – The Uritsky District Court in the Oryol region has turned down a request on mitigating the punishment of Oleg Navalny, the brother of prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is serving his time at a local penitentiary, the court press service told Interfax.

“The court today heard a request by Oleg Navalny’s lawyer on replacing the unserved part of the time with a milder punishment and declined it,” a court spokesperson said.

The press service did not name the reasons for this ruling.

It had been reported earlier that the Uritsky District Court had twice declined a request for parole filed by Oleg Navalny’s lawyers, the first time in June 2016 and the second in February 2017. Both times the court motivated its decisions with penalties imposed on Oleg Navalny by the penitentiary administration for violating regulations.

Oleg and Alexei Navalny were indicted for large-scale fraud and legalization of criminal proceeds. The investigation charged them with embezzling over 26.7 million rubles from the French cosmetic manufacturer and distributor Yves Rocher Vostok and over 4.4 million rubles from the Multiprofile Processing Company. The money was later legalized by being transferred on fictitious grounds to the Kobyakovo Willow Weaving Factory controlled by the Navalny brothers and their family members, the Investigative Committee reported.

Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky District Court found the brothers guilty on December 30, 2014 and gave Alexei a suspended sentence of three years and six months in prison, while Oleg received real jail time of three years and six months.